Palo Alto, United States, August 26th, 2025, Chainwire
- First edition of the flagship institutional event, hosted by Story in collaboration with Blockworks and Korea’s largest finance media, Korea Economic Daily, convenes global leaders in AI, IP, and crypto to explore IP as the foundation of the $80T opportunity powering the AI economy.
- The first lineup of speakers highlights the leaders and masterminds behind Korea’s world-renowned IP phenomena from BTS and BLACKPINK to aespa and Baby Shark. These include CEOs and founders from HYBE, The Black Label, SM Entertainment, The Pinkfong Company, and many more, while attracting leaders of top crypto companies like Polygon and Animoca Brands and Wall Street’s top firms such as Morgan Stanley and Grayscale.
Story, the world’s IP blockchain, in collaboration with Blockworks and Korea Economic Daily (Korea’s largest finance media group), today announced the inaugural Origin Summit, the flagship institutional event at the intersection of artificial intelligence, blockchain, and intellectual property. The Summit will take place on September 23, 2025, during Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) in Seoul, and will bring together leading voices across AI, blockchain, and finance to explore IP as the linchpin to unlocking an $80 trillion, illiquid market at the heart of AI’s next evolution.
Intellectual property (IP) is the backbone of global creativity, culture, and innovation. IP spans everything from AI training data and music catalogs to biotech patents, entertainment franchises, and user-generated content. Valued at over $80 trillion, IP is one of the world’s largest and most important asset classes, but it remains fragmented, illiquid, and largely invisible to markets.
As artificial intelligence advances, access to verified, rights-cleared IP is becoming critical. Models need structured data, not scraped content, and AI-native applications require infrastructure that can trace, license, and monetize contributions in real time. Meanwhile, institutional capital is searching for the next wave of real-world assets, and crypto is evolving from speculation to programmable ownership. IP sits at the center of this convergence. Origin Summit brings together the builders, investors, and cultural leaders unlocking the programmable IP economy, where AI, crypto, and capital align around one of the most consequential frontiers of the next decade.
Why Korea?
Few places on earth better capture the convergence of culture, capital, and technology than South Korea. It’s home to one of the world’s most digitally fluent populations, a booming creative IP sector, widespread digital-asset adoption, and some of the strongest industrial players advancing embodied AI.
- Cultural IP exports, including music, gaming, film, and animation, reached $13.6 billion in 2024.
- IP exports have more than tripled over the past decade, hitting $9.85 billion.
- South Korea has the largest number of paid ChatGPT subscribers outside the U.S., reflecting its world-leading AI adoption. Weekly usage has exploded (up 4.5× over the past year), making it one of the most dynamic and AI-savvy markets globally.
- Korea is fast emerging as the frontier of Physical AI and robotics, with Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and SK leading the charge. It has the world’s highest robot density (1,012 per 10,000 workers) and a robotics market growing nearly 15% annually, reinforced by the K-Humanoid Alliance aiming for advanced humanoids by 2028.
- Crypto adoption is surging, with 30% of the population (~15.6 million people) actively investing in digital assets.
- South Korean exchanges currently capture nearly 50% of global altcoin trading volume.
- Coupled with a vibrant retail trading base ($663B in KRW trades vs USD markets) and consolidated liquidity on platforms like Upbit and Bithumb, Korea has emerged as a critical hub for digital asset innovation.
- The domestic crypto market reached a value of ₩102 trillion, with daily trading volumes up 20% year-over-year.
The global rise of K-pop and K-drama, as well as gaming giants like Lineage, MapleStory, and PUBG, has thrust the country into the spotlight as a global IP powerhouse. And with national champions like Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and SK pushing the boundaries of embodied and physical AI, Korea is rapidly becoming a global hub for innovation with a burgeoning consumer market.
Wave 1 of Confirmed Speakers and Participants
From the creators of BLACKPINK, BTS, Baby Shark, and Lineage to executives at Morgan Stanley, Grayscale, and the founder of Pudgy Penguins and Abstract, Origin Summit convenes pioneers across AI, IP, culture, and finance.
This is just the beginning. The first unveil focuses particularly on Korean IP leaders, but we will soon be followed by leaders in AI, the other major theme of Origin Summit. A full agenda and additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.
- Kyoung In Jung, CEO, The Black Label – Record label founded by executive producer for BLACKPINK and K-pop Demon Hunter
- Ryan Seungkyu Lee, Co-founder & EVP, The Pinkfong Company – Co-creator of Baby Shar
- Amy Oldenburg, Head of Emerging Markets Equity, Morgan Stanley Investment Management
- Lee Sung-soo, CAO, SM Entertainment – Widely credited as the creator of K-pop as a genre
- Jake Jaekyung Song, Co-founder of Nexon and creator of Lineage, one of the most successful MMORPG franchises in Korea’s history.
- Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Managing Director, Grayscale Investments
- Brandon Yu, President, HYBE Music Group APAC – Company behind BTS, Ariana Grande, Seventeen, and more
- Luca Netz, Founder & CEO, Pudgy Penguins and Igloo, Inc.
- Sunghwan Choi, President/COO, SK Networks – Korea’s 2nd largest conglomerate
- Yat Siu, Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Animoca Brands
- Sandeep Nailwal, Co-founder, Polygon – Ethereum’s leading scaling solution, powering brands like Nike, Disney, and Reddit
- Jangwon Lee, Founder & CEO, Contents Technologies
Event Logistics
Date: September 23, 2025
Location: Seoul, South Korea (during Korea Blockchain Week)
Format: Curated for institutional investors, IP holders, AI builders, and cultural leaders
Website: www.originsummit.xyz
Registration: Limited capacity. Interested parties can request access via the event website.
Produced by: Story Protocol, in collaboration with Blockworks and Korea Economic Daily
About Origin Summit
Origin Summit is the premier institutional event at the intersection of AI, blockchain, finance and intellectual property. Hosted by Story, in collaboration with Blockworks and Hankyung Media Group, the Summit convenes global leaders to define the infrastructure powering the programmable IP economy. Taking place during Korea Blockchain Week 2025 in Seoul, Origin Summit will explore how AI, crypto, and capital are converging to unlock the world’s most valuable untapped asset class.
About Story
Backed with $136 million from a16z, Polychain, and Samsung Ventures, Story launched its mainnet in February 2025 and has rapidly become the leading blockchain infrastructure for tokenized intellectual property. Story is a blockchain purpose-built to make intellectual property a programmable digital asset with embedded rights. It enables creators, developers, enterprises, and AI labs to turn media, data, and AI-generated content into programmable, legally enforceable digital assets, fueling use cases across AI, entertainment, robotics, and more. Designed for scale, Story bridges the gap between outdated legal frameworks and the realities of AI-era creation, making it possible to track provenance, automate licensing, and unlock new markets for ideas. As the foundation for $IP’s evolution into an internet-native asset class, Story powers a more open, equitable, and composable creative economy. Learn more at https://www.story.foundation.
About Blockworks
Blockworks is an information platform that sits at the center of the crypto industry. We transform raw, complex data and facts into actionable research, trusted news, alpha-driven insights, and world-class events. The result is transparency and confidence. We enable investors, operators, and institutions to see past the noise, make better decisions, and drive the industry forward.
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